".......and then she appeared right before me, and we almost collided
again.......ha ha......." laughed Boromir weakly, his eyes gliding to the
Prince again. "Anyway, I greeted the wom...-lady!" he said hastily, and
continued without a pause, "I asked her.......about.......about......." he
glanced again at the Prince, who stood by the large window overlooking the
forest, his head turned away from him, his hair floating in the gentle
breeze.
Boromir glanced at Aragorn and received a shrug. "And well.....yes, so here I was, talking to her and........." At the persistence of the complete disinterest of the Prince, Boromir let out a frustrated sigh. "Prince Legolas!" he said with a growl. The Prince did not hear him. "SIRE!"
Legolas blinked and turned to the men in the room. After a moment of frosty and silent confrontation he said "Yes?" with a tinge of confusion.
Boromir almost rolled his eyes. "I was telling you that I met Lady Irulan in town."
At that, Legolas' head snapped around again. His eyes were shrouded in curiosity and........ 'Alarm?' thought Aragorn with confusion, but decided to make judgment of it later. However, when he spoke, Legolas' voice was calm and dipped in disinterest. "Oh?"
"Do you remember her, Sire?" Boromir said, relieved that he had finally managed to capture his attention - which was becoming a harder task by the day.
"Yes. You ran into her, did you not?"
Boromir pursed his lips and shot a dark look at the grinning Chief Advisor. "Actually it was more the other way around," he said, and then swiftly continued: "Anyway. I saw her in town. You will not believe this, but......she has actually changed her mind about the Ball! She will be attending, it seems!" he said with perfect enthusiasm. So perfect, it was downright suspicious. But Legolas' attention was elsewhere.
He strode into the room, the breeze catching his hair and throwing it over his shoulders. "That is wonderful news!" he said with a deep smile. At that, both Boromir and Aragorn smiled back with sincerity. It felt immensely good to receive such a positive energy from the Prince.
"It is!" said Boromir, happy at the turn of events and at the fact that since a long time now, the Prince seemed to be happy with them. Therefore, he delved into further elaboration: "As it so happens, I met her once again by that very tailor shop! She was exiting, and -allow me to say- unaware of her surroundings again..." Boromir simply HAD to stick that in. There..he already felt better. "...but this time, I was fast enough to stop, Sire. And she almost dropped the gown she had acquired from the shop, but alas, thanks to my reflexes, I caught it before it would be ruined and-"
"She almost dropped a GOWN?" Legolas said suddenly and Boromir halted at his low voice to see the peculiar expression on the Prince's face.
"I.......er.......yes?" he said slowly, a little shaken that his tale of heroic deed was cut off so abruptly and very confused about why that was.
The Prince looked at him for so long, he shifted on his feet and threw a look at Aragorn, who was focused on Legolas, himself. "Perhaps it was not for herself," Legolas said finally and put on his mask of disinterest again.
"No," said Boromir, eager to make his point, "it was for her. She told me so." He was even more confused why the elf's reaction to such a normal thing would be raised eyebrows and another mystified stare. "Well.......for the Ball, Highness!" he said finally, unable to come with something else.
Legolas clasped his hands behind him and swept his gaze around the room, for the sake of doing something that would gain him time to think about the matter. "Judging from her appearance," he said a moment later with a calm voice, "I would not think her to have the resources for such a thing."
"Well......." Boromir said a moment later, and then again....... "well......."
"Did she not tell you that her family bought it for her, when she decided to attend the Ball, after all, First Captain?" cut in Aragorn's soft, but steely voice. He clenched his jaws and bore his eyes into the captain's to give Boromir a message and the other woke up at that. "Oh!" he said and pursed his lips, squinted his eyes and gently nodded his head, his gaze diverted to the window as if in an act of remembering. "Oh yes! How foolish of me to forget! Yes, she said so."
"Her family?" came Legolas' now unmistakably confused tone of voice and both men blinked as an uneasiness of the strangest kind overcame them. They shared another swift glance as to why such a simple issue had made the Prince so suspicious and both felt a tinge of fear that he might be at the verge of discovering their plot.
"Yes," Boromir almost whispered this time, his attention fixed on the blonde man. The other raised his head and looked him in the eye and such disbelief was in those blue eyes that Boromir almost blurted out the entire confession. His heart forgot to beat and he had to use all his strength to suppress that urge.
They stared at each other for something like eternity, when finally Legolas diverted his gaze and, turning his back to his friends once more, resumed his stance by the window. His face, now well hidden from them, was a mask of puzzlement. He knew that Irulan's family would not do such a thing. And he also knew that she herself could not have afforded a gown. So..........Something at that news itched him terribly, but he failed to locate what that was. The fact that she would go to pick up a dress after his gift was nothing out of the ordinary. Most probably she had ordered said dress before and was forced to attain it anyway. But.........he shifted on his feet with unease. Who would buy such a dress for her, he wondered. 'It could be anyone. A relative. A friend. Anyone,' he told himself. But then......why would she lie about it, saying that it was her family? That terrible itch returned again and Legolas was sorting through the confusion, slowly reaching a very distasteful conclusion, when Aragorn spoke up, and broke his concentration.
"Is something the matter, Sire?"
The elf turned his face half-way to him, not wishing to show reveal his expression. "Nay. Nothing." He returned to gaze out, then. "I will be joining you and everyone else in the Meeting Hall, shortly."
Both men looked at each other again, confused beyond words, for this was certainly not the reaction they had hoped to get from the Prince, and then unwillingly excused themselves to leave him alone.
Legolas stood looking out into the forest for a while, trying to return to his thoughts on the matter, but he realized that he was unable to retrace the line of discovery he had caught a few minutes ago. Only that disturbing feeling had remained like an unexplainable dark spot in the corner of his vision, refusing to disappear. He sighed and turned to leave the room. Whatever it was, it would have to wait for later solving.
*****
"If Prince Legolas is not suspicious about our tale, I will personally go and kiss that Irulan woman!" hissed Boromir. For a moment, only the thunderous sound of their boots echoed in the hall while the thought rang through Boromir like a catastrophic earthquake, and he decided that it would be unwise to engage in a bet like that. "On second thought-" he began hastily, meaning to retrace his statement when Aragorn cut him off.
"Something is wrong," he said, grinding his teeth, his eyes searching the corridor, lost in concentration. "Something is wrong about this whole thing. I KNOW it!"
"Let me guess," the First Captain said with distaste, "how about EVERYTHING?!"
Aragorn shook his head, completely ignoring him. "Legolas is behaving so strange. So mysterious......so distant." Boromir rolled his eyes at the discovery of the obvious. "As if he is......hiding something," Aragorn said, biting his lower lip.
Boromir remained silent, knowing that it was always a good idea to let Aragorn think so. The man had an uncanny ability to think his way to the most unreachable facts. When he refused to talk any further, though, he itched to intervene. "You mean about the Ball?"
Aragorn shook his head again in unease. "I do not KNOW, damn it!" he hissed after a moment's concentration. "It is there, but I can not put my finger on it. However, I would not be surprised if it involved the Ball, too. Even before we told him the news, his interest in the event had taken a drastic turn, you know that."
"Do you think something has........befallen him?" Boromir said suddenly and gulped with anxiety.
The other man looked at him in confusion. "Like what?"
It was Boromir's turn to shake his head. "Like......like a spell or something. I mean, he is grim one day, as happy as I have never seen him before, the next. One moment he looks at me and I could swear that he means to kill me with those looks, the next instant he drowns Lord Haldir -HALDIR!- with compliments. He is always either in a trance or over- energetic, jogging around in the palace to oversee the preparations for the Ball up to the smallest detail. And he hardly sleeps."
"How do you know that?" said Aragorn, his mind still wrestling with the dialogue between Boromir and the Prince from a few minutes ago.
"I hear people saying how they spotted him walking around the palace at hours when he should be asleep. I questioned his guards, but you know how those guards of his are.......They stare at you with such utter silence, I almost believe that Legolas himself trains them in the art!"
They remained silent for another moment, the only sound once again the clutter of their long strides.
Finally Aragorn shook his head for the nth time. "I myself begin to wish the swiftest conclusion of this Ball. I have this eerie feeling that we will suffer much from it," he finished with a sigh.
"MORE than we already do?" was the First Captain's disbelieving protest.
The Ranger just looked ahead and plastered a smile on his face as they approached the Meeting Hall. "Much more, Boromir," were the final words exchanged between them.
*****
"Ta ta ta taaaaaaaa!" exclaimed Eowyn and Irulan turned around to take a look. She was expecting something surprising, no doubt, but not......so.......shocking! Remaining frozen and agape, Irulan observed Eowyn as she whirled in her gown of light green, that brought out a greenish hue in her eyes and matched her long blonde hair perfectly.
"Eowyn," she began, then swallowed to find other words, "that I would EVER see you like this! You look........you look........"
"Amazing, gorgeous, lovely and breath-taking?" said the other girl and waved her hand to dismiss the words, "Don't I always?"
"No. Most of the time you look like a threat to life," Irulan said with a sheepish grin.
"Same thing," was Eowyn's curt reply and Irulan shook her head, knowing that she could never match the other girl in such remarks. Her eyes swept over Eowyn's form once more. No doubt that she was beautiful. Hell, that would be an understatement. Eowyn was downright dazzling. Therefore, the fact that she did not care about her beauty at all, made her even more precious in Irulan's eyes.
"Are you not going to try yours?" the blonde woman said, remaining on her feet, since sitting anywhere in this room would end up leaving stains on the gown for sure.
"Mmmm........no," Irulan said with disinterest. "Later."
"I want to see it on you!"
Irulan rolled her eyes. "And most unfortunate for me, you will, Eowyn. More than once. I have other things to do right now."
The silence that followed was not good. "Like what, exactly?"
"Look, since you are not one, you would not understand, but human beings need rest and sleep."
Eowyn simply narrowed her eyes and kept looking at Irulan without blinking. "Are you hiding something from me?" she said after a too long interval.
"Oh yes! It is time to declare that I am no servant girl but a wizard in disguise! And at nights, I drop this false pretense and engage in all sorts of good and heroic deeds around the town!" Irulan snorted perhaps a little too loud. When her friend did not reply, she raised her eyes to meet the blue ones. "Look around you, Eowyn," she said, waving her arm in a mock gesture of introduction, "THIS, and only this is my life," she added bitterly.
Eowyn stole a glance at Irulan's windowless basement room, refusing to light up against the soft glow of the candles spread around it. Her gaze swept over the broken single bed, the crooked shelves that held a couple of books, her garments stacked in a corner, because there was nothing to put them in. "I have to admit.......it looks pretty horrible."
"Thank you for stating the obvious," was Irulan's dry reply.
"But......it never mattered to you before," Eowyn suddenly said into the silence and it was so unexpected a statement, that Irulan felt herself blush against all her control. Good thing that the dim lighting covered it. She thought about Legolas and again that stab of pain lunged between her ribs like a sharp knife. Never before had she wished to be someone else. On the contrary, she had felt immense pride in NOT being one of those rich and yet heartless, beautiful and yet brainless women. And here she was, that very same Irulan, wishing -to her own utter horror and embarrassment- to be someone else. Anyone else. She wanted to be someone more.......presentable. Someone Legolas might see in a different way.
The thought evoked such frustration and denial in her, Irulan jumped to her feet and turned her back to Eowyn. 'I am what I am. I ask for nobody's liking!' she hissed in her mind, knowing that it was true and yet not true and feeling incredibly shallow for the knowledge.
"It matters not, Eowyn. I am only tired," she said with her back still turned.
Eowyn sensed her mood, but wisely decided to pretend she did not. "Fine," was her reply. "Keep mine here, too, Irulan. I have nowhere to hide it," she said and began to undress again. Irulan listened to the swish of the fabric behind her as she stared into the flame of the candle, wondering how one could feel so happy and yet so unhappy at the very same time. She barely heard her friend leaving as once again silence and loneliness advanced upon her in the basement room that reflected her life as perfect as only a mirror could.
*****
She stumbled in the darkness and knew by the grip on her elbow that prevented her fall, that Legolas had come. She smiled in the dark and found her balance again, looking at the black shape of a man in front of her. "It was wise for us to meet this way," chimed his beautiful voice, "for you would have injured yourself for certain."
"What are you talking about?" said Irulan with a grin, "I did that on purpose. I can walk through this forest with closed eyes, my friend!"
Legolas chuckled and felt the delight of her presence seeping through his pores in the form of the purest of pleasures. "I will not ask for a demonstration of that statement," was all he said. He released her arm then and began to walk. Irulan immediately followed, afraid to lose him or to fall on her face. She was so concentrated on her task of stepping carefully, that she did not notice the Prince halting in front of her to choose an easier path amongst the crowded roots, and ran into his back.
"I suppose that was on purpose, too?" Legolas said, and his voice betrayed his amusement.
"Of course," was her dry reply. She continued to follow and as her eyes slowly accustomed to the darkness and the crowd of trees became less dense, she realized that Legolas wore a different garment, some sort of long hooded cloak today. As she stepped out into a small clearing and the bluish moonlight hit it, she felt amazed by its beauty - as she felt with all his other garments. Legolas waited until their eyes locked and then, smiled at her, feeling ecstatic by a simple thing like looking into her eyes again. "It has a purpose," he said softly, his eyes never leaving hers.
"What does?" was her confused reply.
"The cloak."
Irulan blinked and tore her gaze away. "Oh," she said, trying to shake herself awake.
"I have a surprise for you," she heard him say and looked up to see him turn around, resuming his walk.
"Again?" was her first remark at that. "You are spoiling me, Legolas," she continued, already excited as to what the surprise might be. "I am getting terribly used to your presence in my life," she added with a sigh of sadness that did not escape his attention.
At that, the elf slowly fell in step beside her. "There is no reason to give up on such a habit," he said a moment later. "I will always be here."
Irulan bit her lip so she would not say "But I won't." And though it remained unspoken, it hung between them like a silent curse.
Until Irulan saw the lone horse grazing in the clearing, ahead of them.
"Wh-what is that?" she exclaimed suddenly in shock and fear.
"I believe it to be a horse," was the man's bemused reply.
"I know!" she shot back with a tinge of anger, then took another look at the animal and felt her insides trembling with the anticipation of what lay ahead of her. "I mean...why is it here?"
"I thought that we might do something different tonight. And since it would take us too long to accomplish it, we will take advantage of Arod."
"Arod?" Irulan croaked with anxiety.
Legolas nodded softly, seeing her terror and failing to understand it. When the tense silence continued, he decided to intervene: "What is it, Irulan?"
"I...I..I do not like horses!" she yelped with uncontrolled horror.
The elf blinked in surprise and looked at her for a long moment, before he broke into a soft smile. "How can that be? They are very gentle beasts."
"I don't care! I don't like them. I don't think I can ride, Legolas," she said, finally turning to him, desperation rising in her.
He took a deep breath and gazed in Arod's direction, then back at her. "I assure you that he is well trained, Irulan. And you will not be alone; I will ride with you."
Her attempts to come up with a reply proved to be futile as Irulan wished to reject Legolas with all her heart, but failed to do so under his gaze. If it had been any other man, she would have insisted with unbreakable determination. But she hated to disappoint Legolas. It was simply beyond her. A tremble shook her gently as she swallowed hard.
Many minutes passed and finally Legolas, who was observing the degree of her reaction, spoke again. "However, I see now that the ride would be a needless burden on you. We shall do this some other time, then."
"No!" Irulan exclaimed suddenly and finally found the courage to look up at his surprised expression. "No," she said with a lower voice and swallowed again, "I will ride."
"But."
"Don't!" she said with impatience and tried to breathe as her eyes beheld the grey mare again. "Just get me on that horse before I change my mind."
The man remained frozen in indecision for another instant, then strode to the horse with long steps and Irulan followed, keeping her gaze on the ground. When they finally arrived, she found him looking down at her with doubt and she rolled her eyes, turning towards the animal that gave her a very annoyed glance. Alright now..it was..HUGE, damn it! Irulan paled again at the thought of sitting on top of this living, breathing and moving..THING and closed her eyes to gather her courage.
"Irulan.." began Legolas once more, but she cut him off.
"How do you get on this...thing?"
At that, he decided not to question her again. "Put your right foot here, then swing yourself up, turn your body and sit on it. Then place your left foot on the other side. It is easy, really." When Irulan gave him a dubious look, the Prince took hold of Arod's reigns. "He will not move, go ahead."
'The things I must endure! First the Ball, now this!' she thought in dismay and deciding that the faster, the better, Irulan grabbed the saddle, did as told and swung herself up, sitting on the saddle with such ease, that she was baffled by it, herself.
She looked down at a smiling Legolas. "If I had not witnessed your fear, I would have thought you are mocking me, Irulan. You did well."
She nodded silently, then, despite her prevailing terror, stubbornly croaked "What fear?!"
Both broke into soft laughter at that, hers a little shaky, and a moment later, with a single fluid motion, Legolas was sitting behind her.
And then her mind went blank as her sentiments took an unexpected and quite drastic turn. The elf slowly leaned in, his body a warm pulse behind hers, and began to whisper into her ear. "Forgive me," he said gently, holding the reigns while Irulan felt a never before experienced feeling roaring through her entire being, "I have forgotten that you fear no man, orc, or giant spider. Certainly someone like you would not fear a mere horse?"
The humor was lost on Irulan, who was engaged in a far greater torment than keeping her end in a childish duel. For this was the first time Irulan felt passion. Not raw and harsh passion, but a slow and gentle one, that was nevertheless not kinder in its intensity. It was so simple a thing, Irulan marveled at how it never occurred to her before. Legolas was a man (an unbelievably handsome and attractive one, too) and Irulan was a woman. And how come all this time, she had felt elation, excitement, pleasure and joy at the sight and thought of him, but never this..this..fire?
It seemed incredible that such a feeling could have evaded her for this long, because now that she did feel it, it proved to be far stronger than all her other sentiments concerning Legolas. Something changed in Irulan, then. Something in her system clicked and no matter how hard she tried to think of Legolas as merely a friend from then on, a very conscious part of her knew that she was lying. If she had been asked to describe him with one word earlier than this minute, terms such as "elf, prince, friend, confidant, ruler, royalty" would have occurred to her far sooner than the word "man". But that changed momentarily, and although her emotions were not clear as to how she felt about that, she knew with certainty that she felt SOMETHING about it. And it scared her even more than the horse underneath her.
She shifted in unease and the elf, troubled by her silence and her moving so, spoke up: "Are you well, Irulan?"
She vehemently shook her head, then. "I think I will fall," she mumbled, sounding distant.
"You will not fall," he said softly. "Are you comfortable?"
Irulan was only honest when she shook her head once more. And upon what followed after, she truly and deeply resented being so.
Legolas delivered the reigns to a single hand and used the other one to embrace her waist and pull her closer to him with utmost care. And this time, he was unable to fool himself -as he usually did- that it was but a normal and innocent act. For even though it had, without doubt, its practical reasons, the fact that Legolas was burning to touch her for the longest time now, was a truth too bare to be denied. Yet, what he thought would bring relief and contentment, brought only a deeper and further hunger. For now that he had finally managed to touch her so and break the barrier that was lying stubbornly in the way of their intimacy, he knew with grim foresight that he would be unable to stop touching her for anything. That, instead of pulling back with the satisfaction of such an accomplishment, he would feel a driving fever to continue with the pursuit even stronger than before, because Irulan was like the finest wine - drinking her only inflamed his thirst further.
Arod waited with utter patience as both his riders remained motionless for a time, lost in their new discoveries about themselves. Finally the elf, tired of wrestling his frantic heart and losing the battle, gently dug his feet into the horse and the animal broke into a soft trot. He felt Irulan tensing at the movement and strengthened his hold on her, thinking that the degree of excitement he felt at the moment was far too naïve for someone of his status and age. The thought, though did nothing to dampen his emotions. "Do not worry, Irulan," he whispered in an attempt to calm her, not knowing that such an act only provoked her further and that at that moment all her fear concerning horses was forgotten.
The ride went on in tense silence and neither found the words to break it. And when it ended, none could decide whether it had been too long...or far too short.
Boromir glanced at Aragorn and received a shrug. "And well.....yes, so here I was, talking to her and........." At the persistence of the complete disinterest of the Prince, Boromir let out a frustrated sigh. "Prince Legolas!" he said with a growl. The Prince did not hear him. "SIRE!"
Legolas blinked and turned to the men in the room. After a moment of frosty and silent confrontation he said "Yes?" with a tinge of confusion.
Boromir almost rolled his eyes. "I was telling you that I met Lady Irulan in town."
At that, Legolas' head snapped around again. His eyes were shrouded in curiosity and........ 'Alarm?' thought Aragorn with confusion, but decided to make judgment of it later. However, when he spoke, Legolas' voice was calm and dipped in disinterest. "Oh?"
"Do you remember her, Sire?" Boromir said, relieved that he had finally managed to capture his attention - which was becoming a harder task by the day.
"Yes. You ran into her, did you not?"
Boromir pursed his lips and shot a dark look at the grinning Chief Advisor. "Actually it was more the other way around," he said, and then swiftly continued: "Anyway. I saw her in town. You will not believe this, but......she has actually changed her mind about the Ball! She will be attending, it seems!" he said with perfect enthusiasm. So perfect, it was downright suspicious. But Legolas' attention was elsewhere.
He strode into the room, the breeze catching his hair and throwing it over his shoulders. "That is wonderful news!" he said with a deep smile. At that, both Boromir and Aragorn smiled back with sincerity. It felt immensely good to receive such a positive energy from the Prince.
"It is!" said Boromir, happy at the turn of events and at the fact that since a long time now, the Prince seemed to be happy with them. Therefore, he delved into further elaboration: "As it so happens, I met her once again by that very tailor shop! She was exiting, and -allow me to say- unaware of her surroundings again..." Boromir simply HAD to stick that in. There..he already felt better. "...but this time, I was fast enough to stop, Sire. And she almost dropped the gown she had acquired from the shop, but alas, thanks to my reflexes, I caught it before it would be ruined and-"
"She almost dropped a GOWN?" Legolas said suddenly and Boromir halted at his low voice to see the peculiar expression on the Prince's face.
"I.......er.......yes?" he said slowly, a little shaken that his tale of heroic deed was cut off so abruptly and very confused about why that was.
The Prince looked at him for so long, he shifted on his feet and threw a look at Aragorn, who was focused on Legolas, himself. "Perhaps it was not for herself," Legolas said finally and put on his mask of disinterest again.
"No," said Boromir, eager to make his point, "it was for her. She told me so." He was even more confused why the elf's reaction to such a normal thing would be raised eyebrows and another mystified stare. "Well.......for the Ball, Highness!" he said finally, unable to come with something else.
Legolas clasped his hands behind him and swept his gaze around the room, for the sake of doing something that would gain him time to think about the matter. "Judging from her appearance," he said a moment later with a calm voice, "I would not think her to have the resources for such a thing."
"Well......." Boromir said a moment later, and then again....... "well......."
"Did she not tell you that her family bought it for her, when she decided to attend the Ball, after all, First Captain?" cut in Aragorn's soft, but steely voice. He clenched his jaws and bore his eyes into the captain's to give Boromir a message and the other woke up at that. "Oh!" he said and pursed his lips, squinted his eyes and gently nodded his head, his gaze diverted to the window as if in an act of remembering. "Oh yes! How foolish of me to forget! Yes, she said so."
"Her family?" came Legolas' now unmistakably confused tone of voice and both men blinked as an uneasiness of the strangest kind overcame them. They shared another swift glance as to why such a simple issue had made the Prince so suspicious and both felt a tinge of fear that he might be at the verge of discovering their plot.
"Yes," Boromir almost whispered this time, his attention fixed on the blonde man. The other raised his head and looked him in the eye and such disbelief was in those blue eyes that Boromir almost blurted out the entire confession. His heart forgot to beat and he had to use all his strength to suppress that urge.
They stared at each other for something like eternity, when finally Legolas diverted his gaze and, turning his back to his friends once more, resumed his stance by the window. His face, now well hidden from them, was a mask of puzzlement. He knew that Irulan's family would not do such a thing. And he also knew that she herself could not have afforded a gown. So..........Something at that news itched him terribly, but he failed to locate what that was. The fact that she would go to pick up a dress after his gift was nothing out of the ordinary. Most probably she had ordered said dress before and was forced to attain it anyway. But.........he shifted on his feet with unease. Who would buy such a dress for her, he wondered. 'It could be anyone. A relative. A friend. Anyone,' he told himself. But then......why would she lie about it, saying that it was her family? That terrible itch returned again and Legolas was sorting through the confusion, slowly reaching a very distasteful conclusion, when Aragorn spoke up, and broke his concentration.
"Is something the matter, Sire?"
The elf turned his face half-way to him, not wishing to show reveal his expression. "Nay. Nothing." He returned to gaze out, then. "I will be joining you and everyone else in the Meeting Hall, shortly."
Both men looked at each other again, confused beyond words, for this was certainly not the reaction they had hoped to get from the Prince, and then unwillingly excused themselves to leave him alone.
Legolas stood looking out into the forest for a while, trying to return to his thoughts on the matter, but he realized that he was unable to retrace the line of discovery he had caught a few minutes ago. Only that disturbing feeling had remained like an unexplainable dark spot in the corner of his vision, refusing to disappear. He sighed and turned to leave the room. Whatever it was, it would have to wait for later solving.
*****
"If Prince Legolas is not suspicious about our tale, I will personally go and kiss that Irulan woman!" hissed Boromir. For a moment, only the thunderous sound of their boots echoed in the hall while the thought rang through Boromir like a catastrophic earthquake, and he decided that it would be unwise to engage in a bet like that. "On second thought-" he began hastily, meaning to retrace his statement when Aragorn cut him off.
"Something is wrong," he said, grinding his teeth, his eyes searching the corridor, lost in concentration. "Something is wrong about this whole thing. I KNOW it!"
"Let me guess," the First Captain said with distaste, "how about EVERYTHING?!"
Aragorn shook his head, completely ignoring him. "Legolas is behaving so strange. So mysterious......so distant." Boromir rolled his eyes at the discovery of the obvious. "As if he is......hiding something," Aragorn said, biting his lower lip.
Boromir remained silent, knowing that it was always a good idea to let Aragorn think so. The man had an uncanny ability to think his way to the most unreachable facts. When he refused to talk any further, though, he itched to intervene. "You mean about the Ball?"
Aragorn shook his head again in unease. "I do not KNOW, damn it!" he hissed after a moment's concentration. "It is there, but I can not put my finger on it. However, I would not be surprised if it involved the Ball, too. Even before we told him the news, his interest in the event had taken a drastic turn, you know that."
"Do you think something has........befallen him?" Boromir said suddenly and gulped with anxiety.
The other man looked at him in confusion. "Like what?"
It was Boromir's turn to shake his head. "Like......like a spell or something. I mean, he is grim one day, as happy as I have never seen him before, the next. One moment he looks at me and I could swear that he means to kill me with those looks, the next instant he drowns Lord Haldir -HALDIR!- with compliments. He is always either in a trance or over- energetic, jogging around in the palace to oversee the preparations for the Ball up to the smallest detail. And he hardly sleeps."
"How do you know that?" said Aragorn, his mind still wrestling with the dialogue between Boromir and the Prince from a few minutes ago.
"I hear people saying how they spotted him walking around the palace at hours when he should be asleep. I questioned his guards, but you know how those guards of his are.......They stare at you with such utter silence, I almost believe that Legolas himself trains them in the art!"
They remained silent for another moment, the only sound once again the clutter of their long strides.
Finally Aragorn shook his head for the nth time. "I myself begin to wish the swiftest conclusion of this Ball. I have this eerie feeling that we will suffer much from it," he finished with a sigh.
"MORE than we already do?" was the First Captain's disbelieving protest.
The Ranger just looked ahead and plastered a smile on his face as they approached the Meeting Hall. "Much more, Boromir," were the final words exchanged between them.
*****
"Ta ta ta taaaaaaaa!" exclaimed Eowyn and Irulan turned around to take a look. She was expecting something surprising, no doubt, but not......so.......shocking! Remaining frozen and agape, Irulan observed Eowyn as she whirled in her gown of light green, that brought out a greenish hue in her eyes and matched her long blonde hair perfectly.
"Eowyn," she began, then swallowed to find other words, "that I would EVER see you like this! You look........you look........"
"Amazing, gorgeous, lovely and breath-taking?" said the other girl and waved her hand to dismiss the words, "Don't I always?"
"No. Most of the time you look like a threat to life," Irulan said with a sheepish grin.
"Same thing," was Eowyn's curt reply and Irulan shook her head, knowing that she could never match the other girl in such remarks. Her eyes swept over Eowyn's form once more. No doubt that she was beautiful. Hell, that would be an understatement. Eowyn was downright dazzling. Therefore, the fact that she did not care about her beauty at all, made her even more precious in Irulan's eyes.
"Are you not going to try yours?" the blonde woman said, remaining on her feet, since sitting anywhere in this room would end up leaving stains on the gown for sure.
"Mmmm........no," Irulan said with disinterest. "Later."
"I want to see it on you!"
Irulan rolled her eyes. "And most unfortunate for me, you will, Eowyn. More than once. I have other things to do right now."
The silence that followed was not good. "Like what, exactly?"
"Look, since you are not one, you would not understand, but human beings need rest and sleep."
Eowyn simply narrowed her eyes and kept looking at Irulan without blinking. "Are you hiding something from me?" she said after a too long interval.
"Oh yes! It is time to declare that I am no servant girl but a wizard in disguise! And at nights, I drop this false pretense and engage in all sorts of good and heroic deeds around the town!" Irulan snorted perhaps a little too loud. When her friend did not reply, she raised her eyes to meet the blue ones. "Look around you, Eowyn," she said, waving her arm in a mock gesture of introduction, "THIS, and only this is my life," she added bitterly.
Eowyn stole a glance at Irulan's windowless basement room, refusing to light up against the soft glow of the candles spread around it. Her gaze swept over the broken single bed, the crooked shelves that held a couple of books, her garments stacked in a corner, because there was nothing to put them in. "I have to admit.......it looks pretty horrible."
"Thank you for stating the obvious," was Irulan's dry reply.
"But......it never mattered to you before," Eowyn suddenly said into the silence and it was so unexpected a statement, that Irulan felt herself blush against all her control. Good thing that the dim lighting covered it. She thought about Legolas and again that stab of pain lunged between her ribs like a sharp knife. Never before had she wished to be someone else. On the contrary, she had felt immense pride in NOT being one of those rich and yet heartless, beautiful and yet brainless women. And here she was, that very same Irulan, wishing -to her own utter horror and embarrassment- to be someone else. Anyone else. She wanted to be someone more.......presentable. Someone Legolas might see in a different way.
The thought evoked such frustration and denial in her, Irulan jumped to her feet and turned her back to Eowyn. 'I am what I am. I ask for nobody's liking!' she hissed in her mind, knowing that it was true and yet not true and feeling incredibly shallow for the knowledge.
"It matters not, Eowyn. I am only tired," she said with her back still turned.
Eowyn sensed her mood, but wisely decided to pretend she did not. "Fine," was her reply. "Keep mine here, too, Irulan. I have nowhere to hide it," she said and began to undress again. Irulan listened to the swish of the fabric behind her as she stared into the flame of the candle, wondering how one could feel so happy and yet so unhappy at the very same time. She barely heard her friend leaving as once again silence and loneliness advanced upon her in the basement room that reflected her life as perfect as only a mirror could.
*****
She stumbled in the darkness and knew by the grip on her elbow that prevented her fall, that Legolas had come. She smiled in the dark and found her balance again, looking at the black shape of a man in front of her. "It was wise for us to meet this way," chimed his beautiful voice, "for you would have injured yourself for certain."
"What are you talking about?" said Irulan with a grin, "I did that on purpose. I can walk through this forest with closed eyes, my friend!"
Legolas chuckled and felt the delight of her presence seeping through his pores in the form of the purest of pleasures. "I will not ask for a demonstration of that statement," was all he said. He released her arm then and began to walk. Irulan immediately followed, afraid to lose him or to fall on her face. She was so concentrated on her task of stepping carefully, that she did not notice the Prince halting in front of her to choose an easier path amongst the crowded roots, and ran into his back.
"I suppose that was on purpose, too?" Legolas said, and his voice betrayed his amusement.
"Of course," was her dry reply. She continued to follow and as her eyes slowly accustomed to the darkness and the crowd of trees became less dense, she realized that Legolas wore a different garment, some sort of long hooded cloak today. As she stepped out into a small clearing and the bluish moonlight hit it, she felt amazed by its beauty - as she felt with all his other garments. Legolas waited until their eyes locked and then, smiled at her, feeling ecstatic by a simple thing like looking into her eyes again. "It has a purpose," he said softly, his eyes never leaving hers.
"What does?" was her confused reply.
"The cloak."
Irulan blinked and tore her gaze away. "Oh," she said, trying to shake herself awake.
"I have a surprise for you," she heard him say and looked up to see him turn around, resuming his walk.
"Again?" was her first remark at that. "You are spoiling me, Legolas," she continued, already excited as to what the surprise might be. "I am getting terribly used to your presence in my life," she added with a sigh of sadness that did not escape his attention.
At that, the elf slowly fell in step beside her. "There is no reason to give up on such a habit," he said a moment later. "I will always be here."
Irulan bit her lip so she would not say "But I won't." And though it remained unspoken, it hung between them like a silent curse.
Until Irulan saw the lone horse grazing in the clearing, ahead of them.
"Wh-what is that?" she exclaimed suddenly in shock and fear.
"I believe it to be a horse," was the man's bemused reply.
"I know!" she shot back with a tinge of anger, then took another look at the animal and felt her insides trembling with the anticipation of what lay ahead of her. "I mean...why is it here?"
"I thought that we might do something different tonight. And since it would take us too long to accomplish it, we will take advantage of Arod."
"Arod?" Irulan croaked with anxiety.
Legolas nodded softly, seeing her terror and failing to understand it. When the tense silence continued, he decided to intervene: "What is it, Irulan?"
"I...I..I do not like horses!" she yelped with uncontrolled horror.
The elf blinked in surprise and looked at her for a long moment, before he broke into a soft smile. "How can that be? They are very gentle beasts."
"I don't care! I don't like them. I don't think I can ride, Legolas," she said, finally turning to him, desperation rising in her.
He took a deep breath and gazed in Arod's direction, then back at her. "I assure you that he is well trained, Irulan. And you will not be alone; I will ride with you."
Her attempts to come up with a reply proved to be futile as Irulan wished to reject Legolas with all her heart, but failed to do so under his gaze. If it had been any other man, she would have insisted with unbreakable determination. But she hated to disappoint Legolas. It was simply beyond her. A tremble shook her gently as she swallowed hard.
Many minutes passed and finally Legolas, who was observing the degree of her reaction, spoke again. "However, I see now that the ride would be a needless burden on you. We shall do this some other time, then."
"No!" Irulan exclaimed suddenly and finally found the courage to look up at his surprised expression. "No," she said with a lower voice and swallowed again, "I will ride."
"But."
"Don't!" she said with impatience and tried to breathe as her eyes beheld the grey mare again. "Just get me on that horse before I change my mind."
The man remained frozen in indecision for another instant, then strode to the horse with long steps and Irulan followed, keeping her gaze on the ground. When they finally arrived, she found him looking down at her with doubt and she rolled her eyes, turning towards the animal that gave her a very annoyed glance. Alright now..it was..HUGE, damn it! Irulan paled again at the thought of sitting on top of this living, breathing and moving..THING and closed her eyes to gather her courage.
"Irulan.." began Legolas once more, but she cut him off.
"How do you get on this...thing?"
At that, he decided not to question her again. "Put your right foot here, then swing yourself up, turn your body and sit on it. Then place your left foot on the other side. It is easy, really." When Irulan gave him a dubious look, the Prince took hold of Arod's reigns. "He will not move, go ahead."
'The things I must endure! First the Ball, now this!' she thought in dismay and deciding that the faster, the better, Irulan grabbed the saddle, did as told and swung herself up, sitting on the saddle with such ease, that she was baffled by it, herself.
She looked down at a smiling Legolas. "If I had not witnessed your fear, I would have thought you are mocking me, Irulan. You did well."
She nodded silently, then, despite her prevailing terror, stubbornly croaked "What fear?!"
Both broke into soft laughter at that, hers a little shaky, and a moment later, with a single fluid motion, Legolas was sitting behind her.
And then her mind went blank as her sentiments took an unexpected and quite drastic turn. The elf slowly leaned in, his body a warm pulse behind hers, and began to whisper into her ear. "Forgive me," he said gently, holding the reigns while Irulan felt a never before experienced feeling roaring through her entire being, "I have forgotten that you fear no man, orc, or giant spider. Certainly someone like you would not fear a mere horse?"
The humor was lost on Irulan, who was engaged in a far greater torment than keeping her end in a childish duel. For this was the first time Irulan felt passion. Not raw and harsh passion, but a slow and gentle one, that was nevertheless not kinder in its intensity. It was so simple a thing, Irulan marveled at how it never occurred to her before. Legolas was a man (an unbelievably handsome and attractive one, too) and Irulan was a woman. And how come all this time, she had felt elation, excitement, pleasure and joy at the sight and thought of him, but never this..this..fire?
It seemed incredible that such a feeling could have evaded her for this long, because now that she did feel it, it proved to be far stronger than all her other sentiments concerning Legolas. Something changed in Irulan, then. Something in her system clicked and no matter how hard she tried to think of Legolas as merely a friend from then on, a very conscious part of her knew that she was lying. If she had been asked to describe him with one word earlier than this minute, terms such as "elf, prince, friend, confidant, ruler, royalty" would have occurred to her far sooner than the word "man". But that changed momentarily, and although her emotions were not clear as to how she felt about that, she knew with certainty that she felt SOMETHING about it. And it scared her even more than the horse underneath her.
She shifted in unease and the elf, troubled by her silence and her moving so, spoke up: "Are you well, Irulan?"
She vehemently shook her head, then. "I think I will fall," she mumbled, sounding distant.
"You will not fall," he said softly. "Are you comfortable?"
Irulan was only honest when she shook her head once more. And upon what followed after, she truly and deeply resented being so.
Legolas delivered the reigns to a single hand and used the other one to embrace her waist and pull her closer to him with utmost care. And this time, he was unable to fool himself -as he usually did- that it was but a normal and innocent act. For even though it had, without doubt, its practical reasons, the fact that Legolas was burning to touch her for the longest time now, was a truth too bare to be denied. Yet, what he thought would bring relief and contentment, brought only a deeper and further hunger. For now that he had finally managed to touch her so and break the barrier that was lying stubbornly in the way of their intimacy, he knew with grim foresight that he would be unable to stop touching her for anything. That, instead of pulling back with the satisfaction of such an accomplishment, he would feel a driving fever to continue with the pursuit even stronger than before, because Irulan was like the finest wine - drinking her only inflamed his thirst further.
Arod waited with utter patience as both his riders remained motionless for a time, lost in their new discoveries about themselves. Finally the elf, tired of wrestling his frantic heart and losing the battle, gently dug his feet into the horse and the animal broke into a soft trot. He felt Irulan tensing at the movement and strengthened his hold on her, thinking that the degree of excitement he felt at the moment was far too naïve for someone of his status and age. The thought, though did nothing to dampen his emotions. "Do not worry, Irulan," he whispered in an attempt to calm her, not knowing that such an act only provoked her further and that at that moment all her fear concerning horses was forgotten.
The ride went on in tense silence and neither found the words to break it. And when it ended, none could decide whether it had been too long...or far too short.